The present invention relates to a paint scraper for removing paint from wooden surfaces with relative ease and without damaging the wood beneath the paint.
Paint scrapers are commonly used for removing paint from surfaces such as brick, cement, metal or wood, and all have similar features. Typically, a paint scraper includes a handle adapted to be gripped by a user, and a blade affixed to the end of the handle. The typical paint scraper is pulled across the surface from which paint is to be removed, and the blade is therefore oriented with respect to the handle at substantially a 90.degree. angle or a slightly acute angle pointing in the direction of the pulling motion. Conventional paint scrapers can be constructed which are adequate for removing paint from hard surfaces such as brick and metal; however, such devices are inadequate for removing paint from wood as will be explained below. Another type of paint scraper is the conventional putty knife. The blade of a putty knife is pushed into the paint rather than pulled across the paint as are the paint scrapers described above. Pushing the blade, however, makes the blade tend to dig into and damage the wood underneath the paint.
There are two primary design considerations which must be addressed in order to optimize a paint scraper for the particular use envisioned. The first consideration is stiffness of the blade. A stiff blade will provide the best paint removing ability and will work well on hard surfaces such as metal and brick. The blade may be made stiff either by making the blade very thick or by making it very short in relation to its thickness. Either way, a thick blade will have less of a tendency to oscillate as it is pulled across the painted surface. Unfortunately, very thick blades cannot be used with wooden surfaces because the blade would tend to damage the wood beneath the paint. Paint is much harder than wood, and although a thick blade can penetrate the protective shield formed by the paint over the wood, it has a tendency to dig into the wood. It is possible to decrease the thickness of the blade and make the blade sharper and more slender, but if the blade loses its stiffness it will "chatter" and tend to create a washboard effect on a wooden surface from which it is desired to remove the paint.
Moreover, conventional paint scrapers do not allow for the increase in resistance to the direction of pulling motion due to the buildup of paint in the vicinity of the blade. As the scraper is used, paint scraps accumulate under the blade which must be removed at short intervals so that the motion of the tool is not impeded. The constant removal of paint scraps is time-consuming because the blade can usually travel no more than a few inches before it becomes necessary to remove them.